A local approach for fracture analysis of sharp notches under Mode I loading

Abstract

On the basis of the linear elastic notch stress fields, the local approach for fracture analysis of sharp notches under Mode I loading is proposed in this study. In the local approach, the stress concentration factor eigenvalue is introduced. For any sharp notch (V-notch), the geometric material characteristic parameters (GMPs) corresponding to the pointed V-notch are calculated by using an approach of determining the eigenvalue and models such as notch angle effect on the eigenvalue, notch depth effect on the eigenvalue and different material effect on the eigenvalue. It is seen from this study that fracture analysis for the sharp notches is well performed by using the obtained GMPs and the local stress field failure model proposed in this paper with a high accuracy within an error interval of a few percent. Taking into account that the fracture toughness is unknown at some circumstances, an empirical equation of determining is proposed in this study. By using the empirical equation, the local approach proposed in this study has a wide of applications such as fracture analysis of the rounded-tip V-notched Brazilian disc (RV-BD) specimens and fracture analysis of center circular hole plates made of metallic materials.